I used to think I was invincible. As a kid I would play sports for hours on end, day after day, and never get hurt. Even as a young adult, my attitude never changed. After college, I played several years in the West Haven Twilight League, participated in multiple rec basketball, flag football and slo-pitch softball leagues with no worries. Sure, there might be a little blood now and then, an occasional rolled ankle or jammed finger. But nothing that required more than a little ice. I'd be back on the court or field in a day or two.

Then I turned 30, and like clockwork a steady stream of significant injuries began to hit me like an array of body blows from Rocky Balboa. After nearly 10 years without a visit to his office, I suddenly got to know my doctor quite well.

It started a month or so after that ominous 30th birthday, when I came down on someone else's foot after a harmless jump shot that resulted in the worst ankle sprain I ever had -- swelling my size 11 foot into a dark purple and black size 16 EEE. That summer, I tore my rotator cuff pitching batting practice to, of all people, New Haven Register columnist Dave Solomon during a home run derby against ex-major leaguers Steve Balboni and Luis Sojo before a New Haven Ravens game with about 6,000 people watching at Yale Field. A great story in itself, but maybe I'll tell it another day. Six months later, I broke my left arm during an Orange Park-Rec men's league game when a teammate accidentally cut my legs out from underneath while I was tipping in his missed layup.

Then there's the latest mishap. Playing in the same rec basketball league, not long after noting to myself how my knees were still in good shape, I landed awkwardly running a fastbreak and violently wrenched my left knee. Initially diagnosed as a sprained MCL, an MRI later revealed a tear. So after hobbling around the last few months like Fred G. Sanford (the 'G' stands for gimp), I will undergo arthroscopic surgery Monday at St. Raphael's Hospital in New Haven.

What does this have to do with UConn football, you ask? Absolutely nothing. However, I'll obviously not be at Monday's media luncheon for the Rhode Island game and will be laid up for a couple of days after that. Colleague Sean O'Rourke will cover for me, and I have harrassed him to keep me informed of any news so, if possible, the blog can remain somewhat up to date. I've been told recovery time is fairly quick, and I'm shooting to make the Rhody game on Thursday even if I have to do it on crutches. So if the blog happens to go a few days without updates, don't lose faith. It'll be up and running again in no time (and, with any luck, so will I).